Caves and Glow-worms

As the saying goes....”If I were a glow-worm, I never would be glum: for how can I be gloomy, when the sun shines out my .....”

We came to the Waitomo Caves which are known not only for the fantastic caves and caverns with the usual stalagmites and stalactites, but also for the “adventures” one can do there. Companies offer rappelling down 100 meter caverns (30 stories), abseiling into deep holes, often with water at the bottom, and black water rafting ( same as white water rafting except that you do it in an underground river where you are in the dark, have to go down waterfalls etc and then wade through underground rivers!!) There are also a few caves with glow-worms all over the ceilings, and you can take a tour to view them. Of course all this comes at quite a price...

When we arrived at Waitomo it was still raining and the fields were flooded. We booked into our cave adventure for the following day and then decided to do a nearby walk which we were told was the prettiest walk in NZ. Well, it WAS pretty! A walkway travelled along a bubbling river surrounded by lush tree ferns and moss, over bridges and in and out caves. The river itself came gushing out of a cavern at one stage, only to disappear underground into another cavern somewhere else. You climbed in and out of the rocky , mossy rocks and it was gorgeous. Someone told us that if you went back after the sun went down you could view the glow-worms in the undergrowth. So, despite the rain, we came back after dark with a torch and walked along the path...suddenly, I looked up and the whole bank was lit up with a thousand little stars..it was magical.

The glow-worm is actually the larvae of a type of fly, and it exudes a sticky web like a spider and then glows in the dark to attract unsuspecting insects for a meal. Their habitat has to be very humid and moist, and usually near water to bring the insects to the webs. They are native to New Zealand, and not related at all to the South American and African firefly which actually flies! I was so thrilled to have seen them, especially as I now didn’t have to pay to see them in a cave on a tour.

Next day we went to do our Caving “adventure”. We had booked into a tour which went to St Benedicts Cave (did you know he is the Patron Saint of caves??). Firstly we had to rappel down a dark and narrow chasm for about 30 meters, then balance on a narrow ledge and abseil down another 20 meters kicking the side walls to keep away from the jutting cavern walls...again in darkness except for our meagre headlamps. It was quite an experience and as I had never abseiled before I found it scary but exhilarating. After that we walked through many different caves strewn with rock falls and broken stalagmites, slipping and sliding through dripping water and wading through underground streams. Finally we got to a huge cavern which was full of the most amazingly lovely cave formations..from delicate “straw” stalactites to huge “angels wings”...really lovely! But then we did the final part of the adventure which was the flying fox ( foofy slide to us!) through one cavern into another in pitch dark.....nothing like zooming down at full speed into a place where you can’t see where you are going!!!! It was great fun and something we won’t forget in a long time.

We then drove through Auckland and started the final leg of our journey into what is known as “Northland”. Our first interesting stop was at a wonderful Museum dedicated to the amazing Kauri trees. These huge trees covered most of North Island once, many of them over 2,000 years old with girths of 14 meters and more. But with extensive logging in the early years there are only a few left in reserves. The museum told of the old logging days with very realistic mannequins each modelled to actually look like the pioneer they represented. They had cross sections of these huge trees as well as wonderful pieces of furniture made from the wood. It was the most lovely wood I have ever seen..a rich honey colour with waves of caramel colour going through it. Kauri trees also exude a gum which was used to make varnish, lacquer and things like linoleum. The gum is a wonderful golden colour which of course becomes the Amber we know now when it fossilized. Unfortunately many trees were killed from the gum diggers trying to bleed them .There were displays of Amber, fossilized Kauri trees which are known as Swamp Kauri, and are still carved into lovely pieces despite some of them being dated at over a million years old. An interesting morning..and to top it off we later drove to see a huge Kauri in a forest.

The Northland is far more isolated and remote than I thought it would be..long distances ( for NZ) between small villages, few petrol stops! The country is either sheep/dairy farms or forest, and we drove almost to the very top peninsular called “90 mile beach”. It is a long straight beach along a narrow peninsular and the Kiwi’s use it like another highway, driving along it from one end to the other. In fact the tourist buses going to Cape Reingi at the very top use the beach to get there..I could not get over seeing a huge bus full of tourists driving along a beach with the waves crashing a few meters away.....The most unusual part was along the ramp to the beach there is a sign reminding people that the normal road rules apply, and a speed sign telling us that the speed limit was 100 kms !!!

The east side of Northland is a series of peninsula’s jutting out from the coast making delightful bays of lovely coloured sea and crescent shaped beaches. Also jutting out from the sea are many small islands in many of the bays, obviously because the land was submerged and left the many hills and mountains standing as islands. The most remarkable of these bays is known as the Bay of Islands which is very picturesque and a tourist haven with boat cruises etc. It is known for its big game fishing and also all kinds of fishing and water sports. When we were there the weather was rainy and grey so we did not see the Bay at its best, but still very lovely.

The trip back to Auckland was through scenic coastal towns, lush farms, and pretty villages. We were looking forward to spending a few days seeing the sights in the biggest city of NZ before we reluctantly left for home.

The final night our of Auckland we stopped at a little town called Helensville which also had hot springs which we thought we would use. The springs had been tapped into a huge swimming pool area which steamed away while people floated in the hot water. That night they had a huge screen up so you could watch a movie while you steamed......I prefer r the quiet meditation of the earlier pools. Along the way we came across many interesting sights..waterfalls, towns that can only be reached by boat, and the most interesting artistic toilets in NZ! ( the insides were more flamboyant than the outside!)

In Auckland we stayed with a niece of ours who kindly took us around to see the sights as the traffic is unbelievable. Auckland has about 18 volcano mounds within the city so it is very hilly, and of course the huge bay makes the Freeways interesting. It has an outstanding museum which we enjoyed especially the section which showed the geological history of NZ and all the volcanic and earthquake impacts over the years. Auckland has a very large radio tower in the centre of the city which towers over all the other buildings. You zoom up to the top in a fast lift and then the viewing platform is built with a glass floor so you walk and see the city many stories below your feet!! I am not normally afraid of heights but I must confess to holding onto the walls as I looked down and saw the tiny cars and people many stories below......what a view!!And some brave souls with lots of cash can either “skywalk” around the outside or even rappel down to the ground?????

Sadly we had to end our trip to NZ knowing that we had only just scratched the surface of this gorgeous country and we will have to go back and do the things we had not managed to do this time.

Rotorua, Bay of Plenty and the Coramandel Peninsula

Rotorua is to GeoThermal activity as Las Vegas is to gambling..it is the most thermally active place on earth and also the most touristy place for this kind of thing in the world. There are many Thermal “parks” you can go to each with their own special attraction. The ones in Rotarua itself are big and expensive and offer a range of different attractions including a lot of Maori cultural exhibitions. The Maoris were very established in this area as they used the hot water springs for cooking and warming. However we chose to go to a park outside the city where they had a cross section of deep craters with boiling mud belching fumes, sulphurous streams leaving bright yellow terraces, and huge lakes that were multicoloured and boiled away in various steamy vents. This park was known for its vibrant colours , all due to different minerals dissolved in the water, and again we were mesmerized by the various thermal features knowing that it was the fury below the ground that was the fascinating part. One lake was brilliant yellow ( from the sulphur) and another was fringed with red, and yet another was bright green. We watched as a geyser spurted meters into the air, and saw the layers of ash laid down by the huge supervolcanoe of Taupo.

Rotarua also has a huge forested area which covers the whole caldera and the various cone shaped mountains. One of the forested areas was a grove of Redwoods towering high above the other species of tree. They were planted to see how well they would do in this area as a commercial tree, but years later they have made a stunning forest which is open for hiking..it smelled just like being in North America.

The next stop was the Bay of Plenty which is known for its fruit growing and beaches. The area around Opotiki is still thickly forested with parts of virgin bush. The early settlers tried to farm this area but its ruggedness and poor soil meant that they failed..when they tried to grow grass for animals the ferns and tree ferns just regrew. This is where the story of the movie The Piano was located. There is a swing bridge across the fast flowing river into this area which the pioneer farmers used to get access into the mountains, but now it is only used for hiking.

Across the Bay is the mountainous Coromadel Peninsula. Once again we made the mistake of thinking it was just a short journey when looking at the map..but with the twisting mountainous roads it took much longer..especially since it had started raining heavily. The reason for going there was more than just the scenery which was stunning...but also we wanted to see a phenomenon called the Hot Water Beach.

When we arrived at this beach we sat in the van and looked dismally at the rain lashing the windows and the cold miserable wind and thought...”how much do we really want to do this??” However, since we had driven 3 hours we thought we may as well go and see it. So, dressed in warm woollies over our bathers , rain gear,and towels stuffed under ponchos we crossed a river and walked onto the main beach 100 meters around a rocky cove brrrr! But what a surprise when we got there...people had dug pools ( with shovels they had brought) and were all sitting happily enjoying the warm mineral springs that were bubbling up through the sand on the beach in various spots. At first we just put our toes in, but it was so warm that we stripped off and sat in a pool digging out the sand with a little bowl. There we were in rain and wind, having a spa on the middle of a beach.....bizarre!! But what fun, and we stayed there a good while enjoying it. Some of the bubbles were jolly hot and took people by surprise judging by the odd exclamation of “ouch, S...t !! ’An old chap in the pool next to us made us laugh..he used a metal colander to dig the sand, and was laying on his back with the colander as his head rest and knitted cap on his head and beer in the sand next to him!

Also on this peninsular are many rugged islands in the bays which jut out of the surf with caves and blowholes. The scenery is wonderful and rugged, and the hikes around there very worthwhile. We did a part of the Cathedral Cave walk with views from every ledge.

As we returned from the trip up the Peninsular we travelled through the Karagahake Gorge. A very fast flowing river ran through the mountains cutting a gorge which was scenic with its towering cliffs.

When we stopped at the little village we decided to do the hike across the swing bridge. We were amazed at what we saw. The site was used in the early 1900 ‘s as a very productive gold mine and there were ruins of huge stamp mills and shafts etc built into the gorge. But more amazing is that they hued tunnels along the precipice and walkways for the horses to pull the coco pans of ore along narrow ledges and the mine openings were meters away from the rushing river. These same pathways are now hiking trails, and as you walk along the solid rock ledges you realize that only about 250 men worked on these mines and hewed out this amazing infrastructure. You climb high into the mountain thro solid rock, and there are tunnels with openings for light where you gaze at the narrow tracks below and marvel at the strength and industriousness of those miners.

North Island and the “HOT property”

We caught the ferry from Picton and travelled thro Queen Charlotte Sound anyway..and the clouds obligingly lifted so that we could see the wonderful mountains and bays of the whole Sound Region. Three hours later we sailed thro the heads of Wellington; a very pretty city that seems to hang off the surrounding mountains and set around a huge bay. We stayed the first night at a small campground on one of the bays, then went to the small village of Upper Hutt to see some friends. The Te Paupa museum of Wellington was fascinating as it has the only preserved Giant Squid in the world..a massive creature about 3 meters long and eyes as big as soccer balls. The hooked tentacles could rotate and penetrate its victim to grab a hold. There was also a simulated earthquake room and a whole section devoted to quakes, volcanoes and the precarious existence of the New Zealanders. I guess if you HAVE to live life on the edge ( ‘scuse the pun) you may as well make a tourist attraction out of it...

The countryside of North Island is very pretty...forested, rural and hilly. Again we took a short cut to the west Coast and it twisted and turned and climbed until we came out on the precipice of the most amazing mountain side with sheer cliffs and views forever...another surprise!

That night we stayed at a free campsite in small coastal town and then drove to the highest mountain in North Island....( in fact three active volcanoes together called the Tongariro Nat Park). As we drove towards the mountain we glimpsed its imposing snow clad peak rising above the clouds, and then the rain and mist started so we saw it no more! To drive up to the top ski area is like driving on a moonscape. Obvious signs of its last eruption in 1996 were everywhere..boulders strewn across a lava encrusted landscape, solidified lava flows looking like the frosting dripping off a cake. Soon all that would be covered in a blanket of snow when the ski season began. Reluctantly we decided to leave the area because the rain had set in for a few days and we could not see anything anyway.

We drove to the Lake Taupo area .This lake is actually a crater lake created by a massive volcanic eruption a few thousand years ago. The bang blew a 660 sq km hole in the earth which sent ash flying all over the world and felt as far as China. It’s a huge and beautiful stretch of water, full of trout and all manner of water sports, surrounded by volcanoes and forest clad mountains. We found a small caravan park on the edge of the lake outside the city of Taupo which had its own Geothermal pools for guests. There were 3 of them ( as well as spas) and they were graded “simmering” 40 deg, “rapid boiling” at 42 deg and “thermo” at 44 plus deg...as Paul says, enough to hard boil eggs....sorry!

Nearby were some free Thermal walks in the little village. It was surreal to walk around the earth which was literally boiling mud, hissing steam, and bubbling water in every nook and cranny..the whole area was surrounded by jets of steam coming out on pavements, drains and odd holes in the ground. It really made me wonder as I walked around the little neighbourhood that none of the homes had many walls or gates , yet there were boiling mud holes in vacant lots, hissing steam vents and HOT ground on the pavements, and fumeroles hissing in every second backyard garden..I bet the residents still had to make sure their pools were fenced for the kiddies tho???!!!! It was also amazing to see the huge thermo power stations and steam rising from pipes and ditches along the way. The whole area along the mids section of North Island is on a very active fault line and is one of the most active, simmering geothermal regions of the world. The mountains were calderas, the many lovely crater lakes had hot springs surrounding them, and wherever you looked there was steam and bubbling mud...a surreal place. Yet the local people obviously thought nothing of it and life went on as usual.

We stayed at a lovely free campsite alongside the main river flowing out of Lake Taupo , the Waikato. The rivers and lakes are so clean and blue, and very fast flowing. Near Lake Taupo was the Huka Falls..most unusual because it is actually the River flowing thro a very narrow Chasm and then falling with tremendous force over an 11 meter drop. The speed and fury of the “horizontal waterfall” in the chasm is just incredible, as are the nearby rapids.

As we drove to Rotorua, the Thermal “capital” of NZ, the countryside was full of jets of steam rising from hillsides, and boiling mud pools along backroads. We decided to stay the night just outside Rotorua at a Geo Thermal Pool resort where you could camp and use the various therapeutic pools of various temperatures and surrounded by exotic ferns...mmmm . It was beautiful because they had designed the Thermal pools with rocks and infinity ledges of different heights and temperatures. The folk there were all very relaxed, when Paul and I tried to talk they all raised a collective eyebrow and then went back to sighing mmmmmm.....Soon we were following suit as we soaked before and after dinner, with twinkling lights shimmering off the steamy pools. BUT, this was the most surreal sight we have seen so far! Next to the resort was a boiling river.....The source of the river bubbles up from underground at 55 litres a second and at 98 deg C...the whole area is full of steam and boiling rapids. There are rare ferns growing in the area and fungi/moss thingys that are the beginning of ancient life forms. To get the water cool enough to bathe in they have to run it over a series of cooling ponds, and sprinkle the water over waterfalls...and even then it is HOT! The whole area was covered with steam and we could hear the boiling and hissing right next to the pools. We spent the night listening to the River boiling away and thinking about the fault line we were blithely resting on stretching from White Mountain on one side ( an active marine Volcano,) and the three active volcanoes on the other side.....

Secret Seal hideaway and the Abel Tasman

After reluctantly leaving the Hot Springs we drove to the coastal town of Kaikoura and then started the drive northwards. Along the road we saw the unusual signs “beware seals next 7 kms” . The road was running right alongside the coast only meters from the sea and rocks, and sure enough we soon saw dozens of seals right on the beach and playing in the rock pools below. The larger ones just looked at us as if to say..dont disturb my sleep, but the younger seals were really curious. They can climb right up the bank and get onto the road. We saw a baby seal sleeping under a bush just next to the road but when it saw us it gave a little yelp and slithered down the slope. Some locals told us about a secret place up the road which we visited. The sign could easily be missed and I don’t think many people even know about this enchanting place!

We followed a little river rushing over rocks in a dim forest for 10 min to a waterfall. The baby seal pups come up the river during the day and play at the waterfall till evening till their parents came back from fishing and then they all returned to the beach to be fed. As we walked along the ferny forest and looked down at the river we saw many baby seals slithering over the rocks. But what a surprise to get to the pool and the waterfall...the pool was teaming with baby seals, frolicking in the pool, lying on the banks and sitting on the rocks only feet away from us. They looked at us with their huge eyes and little whiskered chins as if to say “what are YOU doing here?” we could not believe what we saw..they played like little pups ( scuse the pun) , chasing each other in the water, jumping off the jutting rocks into the pool, doing flips and dives, and of course head butting and practice fighting as all baby animals do. The signs said not to touch them cos they could bite, but it was so tempting cos they were obviously curious and wanted to sniff us out. Unfortunately the light was dim so the photos don’t show the numbers in the water or how they were playing and swimming. What a special experience we will always treasure.

That night we stayed at a DOC campsite along the coast, parking a few feet from the beach with towering cliffs behind us. So peaceful and not a light near us. We drove though a small town of Blenheim ( some of the names are So Olde English and others are completely Maori) where we refuelled and stocked up. From there we drove to a ski resort in the mountains called St Arnaud and stopped at a DOC site on the edge of a postcard perfect lake with mountains surrounding us. We were the only people in this huge, beautiful natural camp, although I could see in Summer it was very well used for boating and fishing. Driving on we finally reached the northern side of the country. On looking at the map we thought that we could make it to our destination by afternoon tea because we only had 40 kms to go. So ,we set off across Takaka “hill”.....and we climbed, and we climbed and we climbed. The GPS showed hairpin bends that looked like seismagraph, and we saw valleys below that seemed like they were from an airplane. But still upwards we climbed, thro the clouds, and finally an equally nerve wracking decent. If the New Zealanders call that a “hill”.....

We were now in an area called Golden Bay. We drove to the furtherest point of the West Coast ( yes we had crossed over to the West Coast again!) and the longest spit in the world reaching out into the ocean...37 kms. The west coast here is wild and windy with huge rocks in the sea with intriguing shapes and holes. The geology is amazing showing rocks of all sizes imbedded into the limestone, large caves, folded rocks etc.

The north coast is famous for its wonderful Hike along a stretch of very wild and beautiful coast line called the Abel Tasman. It takes several days to hike end to end with huts at various bays, tidal crossings and wonderful rainforest vegetation. There are some endangered species that thrive here so isolated and dense is the bush. For those wanting to do just parts of the hike there is a water taxi which can take people to various stages, and drop them off/pickup in other parts. We decided we would stay in the DOC campsite at the most northern end of the hike. Once again we saw a gravel road 12 kms on the map, but again had to wind our way through narrow , winding and climbing curves with steep precipices to get there ...but later found out that a BUS service did the trip too......!!!!!! The Campsite was idyllic....natural rain forest right onto the golden beach, total privacy because there were only a few of campers ( in summer the camp holds over 800 sites allocated on a ballot basis ), showers and toilets, and best of all for Paul...a FIREPLACE. He loves to have a fire when he is camping but most places don’t allow fires anymore. Imagine his delight when the ranger pulled up and gave him a whole pile of wood! It was such a special place that if the weather had not turned nasty ...rainy and thick mist...I could have stayed there a week. We did do some of the Hike track and it is one of the most beautiful.

The next day the rain and thick mist covered the whole area..the “killer” hill had no views, and as we drove along the coast of Nelson we only got glimpses of the coast line. Because it was predicted to last the next few days we decided to carry on thro the Sounds and go to Picton and the ferry. The last night on South Island we used a DOC site on the banks of Charlotte Sound overlooking the wonderful bays and mountains...covered in thick cloud. As the ferry travelled through the Sound the mist lifted for a short while and we said goodbye to the lovely scenery, promising to come again one day. After 3 hours the ferry sailed into Wellington with rain and cloud, but still very impressive...the next leg of our journey.

The Glacier Country

Queenstown was also the setting for some of the “Lord of the Rings” films. We drove along a scenic road carved on the edge of the mountains and along the Lake ( second biggest in NZ and hundreds of meters deep) to Glenorchy. All along the way were signposts saying that this was the setting for a scene from the movie....no wonder. The mountains had a majestic Otherworld quality, suggesting lost kingdoms in the far distance, and the trees were bent and gnarled and dripping with moss and ferns...all very mystical! Queenstown has a friendly and young atmosphere with backpackers gathering in sidewalk cafe’s and all discussing which amazing adventure ride they were going to do next!

From Queenstown we drove over a steep mountain pass to Wanaka, another lovely town on a turquoise glacial lake surrounded by snow capped peaks...and NO, we were not getting Ho Hum about the scenery...I could not get enough! As we took our last look back at Queenstown we saw the panoramic view of the mountain backdrop that they used for the opening scenes of so many movies.

We stayed at a small campsite on the edge of a rushing glacier river and forest that night only a few kms from Wanaka...run by the council, the payment was by Honesty Box. The town has a lot of fun things to do and includes a very unusual “puzzle world” with rooms full of puzzles , optical illusions and double decker maze..spot the optical illusion with Paul!! Once we had explored the pretty town we left in thick mist to cross the famous Haas Pass which wound its way to the West Coast through treacherous hairpin bends and steep gradients. On the way we stopped at numerous waterfalls along the way, the dripping ferns and beech trees made all the more otherworldly with tendrils of mist wrapping around them. Everywhere there were waterfalls gushing over rocks and down ditches, fast flowing rivers, and thick rainforest vegetation. The Blue Pools were carved out of a river bed with the bluest water and from the swing bridge we could see fat rainbow and brown trout swimming below. We drove along the West coastline of NZ which reminded us very much of the coast of Oregon...steep cliffs with jagged pieces of land jutting from the surf. There were numerous lookouts of the spectacular coastal scenery.

Once again we stayed at a Dept of Conservation Camp on the edge of a pretty lake surrounded by mossy ferny rainforest...very scenic and pretty and only marred by a cloud of sandflies which inflicted very itchy bites!

Our first view of the Fox Glacier was breathtaking. These are the most accessible glaciers in the world and the only ones that come down to rainforest. From the car park you walk along the long rock strewn flat valley floor toward the icy mountain river gushing out of the glacier. The moraine is so interesting when you think of the awesome force of nature and the steep almost 90 degree angle of the valley sides are evidence of the glaciers retreat in the not so distant past. The walk is about an hour, and all the way the path is carefully laid out between barriers because rock falls, ice falls and avalanches are daily occurrences ...in fact a young tourist died not so long ago because he ignored the signs and walked up to the glacier face where a huge chunk of ice fell on him. The following day we drove to the Franz Joseph Glacier and did a similar walk along the boulder strewn valley floor for an hour and half with these towering cliffs dwarfing us at the bottom. The word awesome does not do it justice. Of course Paul, being Paul, could not resist climbing over the barrier for a better photo.....

The drive further along the West Coast beaches saw some wild surf and lots of rain and mist...that region gets 5 meters of rain annually!!!! No wonder the vegetation is so lush. We drove over the mountains to see Arthurs Pass , another steep pass with precipices on each side of the road and some amazing engineering as can be seen by the photos. We camped again in a Doc campsite with an Honesty box..the site was along side a bubbling river surrounded by forest...and we were the only ones there!!

As we emerged from the dripping, lush and misty West Coast via the Lewis pass back to the East coast we had to blink and get accustomed to the bright sunshine again...something we had not seen since crossing to the other side of the Island! It was not as lush, and the mountains not as high or snow covered, but very pretty and rural. The first stop was a Hanmer Thermal Springs...a resort where they had made a wonderful set of baths from the natural Thermal springs of the area. There were rocky pools of all temperatures, spa pools with therapeutic jets, waterslides for the kiddies, lounging chairs in the pools to just lie back and relax in the wonderful hot water while the chilly air around us made clouds of steam...bliss. Talking of Thermal springs, we had been doing some reading about the various fault lines crisscrossing NZ and how they, like the San Andreas fault, were anticipating the BIG one. We actually drove over the main fault line a couple of times.

From here we head up the West coastal and along the top of South Island. The weather is lovely sunny days of 13 deg, but the nights are minus 2 and lots of frost.